Philadelphia, PA – The Penn Book Center played host to a book signing this past Friday evening. The graphic novel Aivali: A story of Greeks and Turks in 1922 was presented by author and artist Antonis Nikolopoulos, known as Soloup.
The graphic novel, tells the story of Greeks and Turks living in the town of Aivali and other places along the Aegean Sea, during the late Ottoman Empire. It also tells the story of the subsequent expulsion from their ancestral homeland during a population exchange of Greeks and Turks in 1922, known to Greeks as “The Catastrophe”, and their subsequent lives as refugees.
Soloup presented a slide show that was followed by Stockton College’s Tom Papademetriou. Papademetriou had translated the book from Greek to English. He spoke about the challenges of the translating process and provided a brief history of Greeks and Turks in Asian Minor in the early 20th century.
Soloup and Papademetriou were on a multi-city tour around the USA this past week.
The book was published by Somerset Hall Press, Boston, Massachusetts. You can visit their website at somersethallpress.com to pick up a copy.